


White and Blue Together

by Dawn_Blossom



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hair Dyeing, M/M, follows canon with additional soulmate spice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27080209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: But no romance novel would begin like this. Strange coincidences aside, Robin can’t be Chrom’s soulmate. His hair, dark as ink, certainly does not match the pale streak in Chrom’s.[soulmate au where soulmates have a streak of each other's natural hair color in their own hair]
Relationships: Chrom/My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 136





	White and Blue Together

**Author's Note:**

> What's this? Dawn's writing Classic chrobin and not crying about Grima?
> 
> (Well, okay, maybe I still cry about Grima a little bit towards the end...)
> 
> Anyway, I was reading fics for a different fandom and someone had a hair streak au (slightly different in its rules, but I kept the basic idea)... and see, you can't say "soulmates" without me thinking of chrobin, so my mind immediately started wandering... and surprisingly, everything just fell into place.
> 
> So, yes... I hope you enjoy the fic! Chrom and Robin sure are soulmates, huh?

The first thing he remembers, before even his own name, is “Chrom.”

The man, blue-haired with a wide streak of white by his left temple, is surprised. His knight is skeptical. Robin has to admit his claim of amnesia isn’t very convincing after that, despite its truth. Why would he recall the name of someone that he doesn’t know? That he’s never known, apparently.

It almost sounds like a cliché romance novel opening. The soulmates meet for the first time, recognizing each other instinctively despite the utter lack of logic. Nobody really cares how they know each other, anyway; their fates are sealed at first sight, before they even get to open their mouths.

But no romance novel would begin like this. Strange coincidences aside, Robin can’t be Chrom’s soulmate. His hair, dark as ink, certainly does not match the pale streak in Chrom’s.

* * *

Robin doesn’t think much of his own soulmate until just after the Shepherds return from Ferox. There are no streaks in his hair, which means one of three things:he has no soulmate, his soulmate is not alive, or he is dyeing his hair to conceal the color of his soulmate’s.

The latter is the most likely explanation. Less than one in a thousand people reach their tenth birthday without some sign of a soulmate, and even fewer go their entire lives that way. And if his soulmate is already dead, well… Why think about it? There’s nothing for Robin to remember them by. Hair dyeing, though, is a common practice. Not everyone is as open as Chrom, who seems to expect that someday his soulmate will stumble into him and know the truth at once, and that things will… work out from there? Chrom’s plan is slightly unclear.

It’s also _very_ dangerous, considering the prevalence of dye on the market. But Chrom doesn’t want to listen to reason. He seems convinced that he could never fall in love with someone who would dye their hair to deceive him. Robin now understands why Frederick has taken up wariness like an official duty.

In any case, he is not alarmed when he spots a few white hairs coming in. He simply assumes that his soulmate, like Chrom’s, must have white hair, and he writes a note to himself to pick up some black dye at the market.

* * *

As Chrom’s chief tactician during a major war, Robin has more important things to worry about than the color of his hair. So what if a little bit of white peeks through? He’ll dye it the next day, or perhaps the next week, or some time when the lives of millions aren’t in his hands…

He’s starting to realize it never ends, though.

And then Emmeryn dies, and the world comes crashing down around him. Chrom’s pain alone is like a knife in his chest, but it’s hard to offer comfort when all he can think about are his own failures, and worse, what will happen when Chrom comes to his senses enough to blame him.

The first time he brushes blue hair off his coat, he thinks it’s a remnant from the previous evening, when a private strategy meeting with Chrom had turned into a deeper heart-to-heart as it became clear that what the commander needed more than any briefing was a friend. They had gotten rather close to each other.

But that explanation doesn’t hold up when he’s alone in the bath, scrubbing nothing but his own head. And yet, there’s no mistaking it. A strand that is dark, but not black. Blue.

It shouldn’t be possible. Never in recorded history has anyone ever manifested more than one soulmate’s worth of extra color, so there shouldn’t be _three_ colors growing out of his head. Maybe the white is just from stress? But he’s been graying awfully quickly if that’s the case…

He has to check. This is no time for distractions, but if he’s been wrong about this the whole time, who knows what else he’s missed? He’s putting Chrom in danger with his negligence.

With the aid of a magical tincture (courtesy of Tharja, who says she’s only helping because it’s him, but… he could have sworn he saw her bringing something to Libra the other day, too), he removes all the dye from his hair. He runs his fingers through his hair until he removes all but a sliver of color from it. A single streak of blue…

Amidst cloudy white.

White, like Chrom’s soulmate. Blue, like Chrom himself. Black is the only color that could reliably conceal the latter shade. Is that why Robin did it, then? So he wouldn’t rouse suspicion? Blue hair isn’t completely exclusive to the House of Ylisse, and white hair isn’t that uncommon in Plegia, but if anyone had looked at Chrom and then seen Robin like this, surely they would think…

Maybe Robin is jumping ahead of himself. Even when a unit has a 99% chance to hit, it wouldn’t do to ignore the possibility of missing. It could be a coincidence.

But it would be a hell of one.

He would follow Chrom to the ends of the earth, and it has nothing to do with the color of his hair! Chrom’s charm, his earnest nature, his drive to help the whole world… Robin hadn’t needed the assurance of fate to fall in love with him!

But the timing is all wrong. Oh, gods, he could not have picked a worse time to make this discovery. They are marching to kill Gangrel; Robin once again holds life and death in his hands. They can win the whole war here and now as long as he stays focused. And Chrom… Chrom could never take something like this lightly. He’s already emotionally exhausted; Robin can’t spring this on him now. Everything he’s done to protect Chrom until now would be for naught if, in some moment of distraction, one wrong move leads to his demise.

Robin can’t fail again.

So he takes his dye and covers everything back up. Like ink spilling on parchment, it renders all of Robin’s discoveries illegible.

His heart aches, but he reminds himself that it is only a temporary necessity. Someday, he will be able to follow his heart. Someday, when he proves his worth, he will settle in where he belongs.

* * *

The proper moment to tell Chrom the truth would probably have been right after he and Robin paired up to send Gangrel to his grave. Failing that, it would have been when they returned to Ylisstol. At the very least, it should have been when, weeks later, white started again creeping into Robin’s hair.

But Robin could not bring himself to do it. He is a veritable war hero and ought to have nothing to fear. Should he ask for a whole new palace be erected for him alone, he has no doubt that Chrom would give the order. And should he say “I’m your soulmate,” then Chrom… Chrom would believe him without hesitation.

Perhaps that is what scares him most of all.

Lately, he has been having dreams. Terrible ones. Chrom is there, as is a sorcerer… Actually, it’s the one they fought the day Marth interrupted Emmeryn’s assassination, but that might be Robin’s guilt talking. The important, terrifying bit comes at the end, though. Just when it looks like Chrom has won, he falls… to Robin’s own hand, though he never chose to move it. Even in a dream, it hurts so much, the unbearable despair of losing your soulmate, and all Robin can do is laugh as he loses everything that was ever good in the world…

It’s a nightmare, but it feels so real. Moreover, it brings up a good point… Just who is he, to stand beside Chrom now? His strategies may have won the war, but they lost thousands of people in the end. Even Emmeryn. Robin may have proven himself a war hero, but now, in peacetime, how can he say he deserves to share Chrom’s world at all? If he tells Chrom the truth, then horribly sappy as he is, Chrom will probably propose marriage on the spot. Marriage to a commoner and amnesiac who “just discovered” he’s Chrom’s soulmate. It doesn’t take any genius to see how well that will go over. If, in the end, Robin would only be the death of Chrom…

He’ll keep wearing that dye forever.

* * *

Chrom’s wedding breaks Robin’s heart.

Not for his own sake, though. No matter what he’d like to do, marrying Chrom would only bring everyone ruin. But Chrom… Chrom, who believes so purely in a soulmate he assumes he’s yet to meet, deserves better.

Chrom doesn’t even want to get married. If it were up to him, he would wait an eternity for his soulmate. But for the sake of giving his country stability and an heir, he allows the Council to match him up with a noblewoman whose fiancé—whose _soulmate_ —recently died of illness. She’ll live in comfort for the rest of her days, all for the low price of lying a few times with a man who clearly doesn’t want to be involved with her.

Well, it’s not like she wants Chrom, either. She still dyes part of her hair the green it used to be. Frankly, it’s the only thing keeping Chrom’s refusal to dye his own from being intolerably disrespectful.

Regardless of the “fortuitous” match, Chrom’s sadness is palpable. He’s lost his sister, inherited a crown he never asked for, and has to marry for politics alone.

And _all_ of it is Robin’s fault. He doesn’t even deserve to _talk_ to Chrom after all is said and done..

Yet Chrom still draws comfort from him. That is enough to keep Robin near.

“I only hope my soulmate doesn’t… misunderstand,” Chrom says. “I haven’t given up on them. But… my love for someone I’ve never met cannot possibly compare to my love for my people as a whole. Robin, you understand where I’m coming from, don’t you? Give me some of your cold, hard logic.”

“Of course I understand. You didn’t enjoy leading a war, either, but you didn’t have a lot of options,” Robin says. “And besides… Your soulmate wouldn’t begrudge you. If there ever comes a day that they can be with you… This little matter won’t stop them. And if some problem does arise… Well, I’m sure they would weather any storm with you. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be YOUR soulmate.”

Gods, what if it really is a hell of a coincidence, and Robin isn’t Chrom’s soulmate? Robin loves Chrom, yes, wholeheartedly, but… Wouldn’t Chrom’s real soulmate stand up for him? Wouldn’t they be a little reckless, just like him, and take arms against a sea of troubles just to secure Chrom’s happiness?

Chrom smiles gently, and it proves Robin’s point. Chrom’s soulmate should be willing to go to any length for that precious sight.

“That wasn’t exactly ‘cold’ or ‘hard,’ my friend,” he says. “But funny, I think it’s what I needed to hear most.”

If only Robin could accept the gratitude.

* * *

The peace doesn’t last. This secures Robin’s utility to Ylisse for the duration of one more war, but it’s hardly something he ought to be feeling good about.

Plegia provides them with desperately-needed resources, but the entire meeting feels like a bad nightmare to Robin. First and foremost, the sorcerer from his nightmares is actually there. Robin could have sworn they killed him, and Chrom remembers as much, too. Yet there he stands… Validar…

And that hierophant…

There’s something wrong. That man looks exactly like Robin, even shares the same name. The only difference is that his hair is white. Pure white, not a single strand of color to it. He could be concealing his soulmate’s color. But…

Robin’s mind keeps drifting towards his nightmares. Chrom dies by his hand so many times, always in Validar’s presence. If his hair weren’t dyed, he would become the very image of the hierophant in front of him, the blue in his hair fading as Chrom’s soul departs his body.

A dream is just a dream, of course. But there’s something suspicious at play here. Validar calls to him mentally, proclaiming the power of their blood connection as father and son. Then, another family connection comes to light. “Marth” has been Chrom’s daughter all along, a version of Lucina who traveled to this world to save it from the annihilation her own faced.

A persistent nightmare, a doppelganger, and a girl from the future. Robin is too smart not to connect the threads…

But it's only one possibility. A 50% chance of a hit, at most. After all, he loves Chrom more than life. There’s no way he would ever work for the enemy… right? Perhaps the hierophant really is his twin.

He just needs to stay on guard for now. That’s all.

* * *

Robin does not believe that Lucina hates him, per se. But there is always a certain tension in her shoulders when he is around. She obviously knows something about him, but it surely can’t be about him being… evil… or else she would have to do something… Warn somebody—if not her father then Frederick, or Maribelle, or Sully, or… any of the other Shepherds, really.

But all she does is watch him with cautious scrutiny. Nothing worse than what he himself would give to an ally he does not know well. She may be reserved, but she is always polite, and a kindness like her father’s shows through her every action. Robin would try to keep out of her way out of respect, but it’s impossible to do when she wants so badly to stick around her father, who himself would not take kindly to an attempt from Robin to distance himself.

Thus, he is not taken aback when Lucina appears at his tent, for he assumes she is looking for Chrom. But he is very much surprised when she merely shakes her head after he informs her that Chrom has gone to talk to Lissa.

“I had a question for you, actually,” she says. “Forgive me… It’s somewhat personal… However, I believe knowing the answer would allow me to… understand my father’s actions better.”

“You can ask,” Robin says.

“Thank you.” Lucina’s gaze travels to his hair. “It’s just, I was wondering… I’ve seen you with hair dye, so I assume you have a soulmate… Do you know who it is?”

Robin swallows thickly. This question from Chrom’s daughter sounds more like an accusation.

“I do,” he admits. “But they don’t. With the war, you see…”

“Yes... I see your point,” Lucina says. “I am fortunate to have no soulmate, or else I doubt I could stomach half the things I’ve had to do. Leaving, for one. Still… It is surprising to learn just how different this world is from mine.”

“Your world was different?”

“Very,” Lucina says. “My parents were soulmates, you see. So it was quite the shock when my father married a woman I had never seen before.”

Her parents were soulmates…

Oh. Now _that’s_ an accusation.

“Er…” Robin hasn’t admitted anything incriminating, though. “I would be shocked, too. But… maybe it’s a sign that you’re changing fate?”

“… Indeed.” Lucina keeps a straight face, but this close, Robin can’t miss the disappointment flash in her eyes. “Well… I suppose that’s all there is for me to say, then. I’ll leave you to your work…”

“Lucina, wait!” 

She’s Chrom’s child… _their_ child… and if Robin could simply take hold of her like they were family, he would. But he’s kept his secrets too long to allow them to spill out now. 

“Was I very different?” he asks softly. “From what you know of me now… Was I different?”

“A bit…” Lucina says. “But only a bit, I think. I suppose I don’t know for sure. I was a child. And you were…”

Robin averts his gaze.

“I’m sorry, Lucina…”

But he would feel better if his other self was very, very different from him.

* * *

Lucina isn’t the only one to come from the future (which unfortunately only lends strength to Robin’s theory about himself). The Shepherds soon have many new members, all of them children of two other Shepherds.

Except, that is, for Morgan, who only claims one parent: Robin himself.

She’s an amnesiac like him, which saves him a lot of awkward explanations to the group. When he asks her about a soulmate, she says she’s dyed her hair to look like his for as long as she can remember, and she knows of no other color. He offers her a tincture to undo the dye, but she rejects the idea uncomfortably, and he is uncomfortably relieved to have dodged yet more awkward questions.

But there is something odd about her sudden appearance that eats at him. Lucina stares blankly when he first brings Morgan over to her, then flinches just slightly when he introduces “his daughter, Morgan.” Lucina doesn’t know her. She couldn’t have come from the future. Or, at least, from _Lucina’s_ future.

It throws a twist into his entire thought process. This world is different from Lucina’s. No one can say how it may differ from Morgan’s. Now, as for that hierophant… If he comes from another world, the question is which… But who is to say he does? Especially when Robin himself has no past to recollect… How can he be sure _he_ belongs here?

“You do belong here,” Chrom tells him when he ferrets out what’s been bothering him. Robin had foolishly tried to stay away from his friends, forgetting that Chrom knows exactly how much he hates being alone. “I never would have come this far without you. Why, I’d probably still be in Plegia kicking up sand in anger. I don’t know who I’d be if I hadn’t met you, but it couldn’t be anything good. So frankly, I don’t care if you came from the sun. You’re not going back there, or anywhere, without me beside you.”

“Heh… Heh…” Robin only laughs to keep himself from tearing up. “The sun’s a bit hotter than a volcano, you know.”

“I’m not afraid if you aren’t,” Chrom says.

He always makes everything sound so simple, and Robin can only hope it’s the truth. 

Surely it _is_ the truth. Because if there is any version of himself in any world that can bear to hurt this man, it sure isn’t him here and now.

* * *

“If you hold any love for Chrom, then let this be done.”

Life, it seems, is no better than a nightmare. Lucina stands in front of him with her blade raised, and the fact is, she isn’t wrong to do it. Against his will, he just handed the Fire Emblem over to Validar, leader of the Grimleal (the gemstones being fake was simply sound strategic foresight, and it’s beside the point). Chrom absolutely refuses to let him desert the Shepherds, or to at least stop trusting him so damn much! But then, he doesn’t understand the full significance of the nightmares… Lucina tells him sorrowfully that in her world, Chrom is killed by his closest friend… and witnessing Validar’s actions today, it’s all too clear how that’s possible.

It does explain his presence in Robin’s nightmare… or, dare he think it, memory…

He would do anything to keep that vision from coming to pass, but...

“I’m sorry…” he says. “I can’t simply sit back and let you do this.”

“Then draw your weapon.” Lucina grits her teeth, “and we will let combat pass the final judgment.”

“No,” Robin says. “I don’t want to hurt YOU, either!”

They should have been a family… They should never have had to contemplate the deaths of any of their own. The problem is Robin’s fault, but he has no solution for it… Not at the moment.

“He’s going to DIE!” Lucina presses. “Something must be done!”

“Yes, but not… this,” Robin says. “Lucina, you know what lies beneath this dye, don’t you? You know what will happen if you kill me now. It’s only for his sake that I resist, believe me.”

“You dare to play that card now? I thought you’d already given it up for his sake!” Lucina shouts. And yet, it is not rage in her eyes, but pain. Her stance falters, and her grip slackens. “You raised me, too… I wanted to save you both! But…”

She lowers her head. Droplets of water hit the ground, then so too does her sword.

“Lucina?”

Robin can’t keep himself from running to her side. He has a heart. He loves every member of the Shepherds. And Lucina, the child that could have been his if only… (if only!), cannot cry without shattering him inside.

“You look like him… except the hair…” Lucina whispers through her tears. “When I first saw you… when those Risen attacked… there was no doubt in my mind when I saw you together, but then… I never even got to speak to you, not like…”

Not like a parent. It’s horribly unfair to her, especially when Morgan is allowed to hang around him freely. It’s not as though Robin acts as a particularly good parent to her, either, but at least _she_ can call him “Dad” without upending years of deceit.

“Lucina, I… I’m sorry for everything,” Robin says. “In truth, I can’t think of anything I’d have done differently in your shoes. Which means it was probably my fault that you decided to hide so much. More than you should have had to. I… hope that’s not offensive to say.”

Seeing as she sobs even harder, he’s worried that it may have been.

“Every time I’ve said my father taught me something…” Lucina sniffs. “I’ve never specified which father…”

Ah, yes. Another little trick from him, no doubt. 

“Are you done, Lucina?”

“Father?” Lucina stiffens at once. “I… I can explain!”

“No need,” Chrom says. “You're not the only one who can eavesdrop. I heard every word.”

Robin’s blood runs cold. Every word? But there were many words said that Chrom did not need to hear.

That he was never meant to hear.

At least, it was never supposed to happen this way…

“Robin…? H-Hey…”

Chrom’s worried grip on his arm brings Robin back to reality.

“Chrom… what I said…” He shakes his head. “You don’t understand…”

“Er, that’s very true,” Chrom agrees. “You said a lot that I don’t understand… I must admit I AM hoping for an explanation when you have the time…”

“Then… Let’s talk,” Robin says. “Somewhere in private. But you do have the Falchion with you, don’t you? If something happens to me…”

“Robin…” Chrom murmurs.

It’s a lot to ask, but if only one of them can survive, it has to be Chrom.

“You can’t leave your daughter alone again. Not even for me,” Robin says. “So promise me… you’ll never let me kill you… No matter the cost.”

Chrom grimaces, but he sighs.

“I promise.”

* * *

Chrom is eerily quiet. Robin had once dreaded an overly excited response, but this is so much worse. True, this is no time for celebration. Validar has power over him. Grima may be revived. The world may be destroyed.

But at a time like this, Robin does not know if he can carry on if Chrom begins to hate him.

“Robin, won’t you lay it out for me? It doesn’t add up.” Chrom finally breaks the silence. “You told Lucina that, beneath your dye… She said that you raised her, but… It IS impossible, isn’t it? There’s no one in the world I care for more than you, but even I can’t pretend there’s any black in my hair.”

“There could be some if you dyed it that way...” Robin says. “Chrom… That’s the thing... I don’t dye my hair to its natural color. I dye it black, but if you washed it all out, you’d see it’s actually… white. White, and…”

Does he even need to say it? But Chrom is frowning so hard that it looks like his brain might fry.

“Blue…” Robin sighs. “There’s a streak of blue, Chrom.”

“Like mine, then…” Several expressions flicker across his face. “When did you find out?”

“Right before we fought Gangrel,” Robin says. “And I never had chance to tell you because…”

Robin tries to remember his points of logic over the years, but in this moment, they all feel like flimsy excuses.

“Robin… It’s alright…” Chrom pats Robin’s shoulder gently. “I’m glad that YOU knew, though.”

“Wh-What? Why?” Robin shakes his head. “Don’t you realize how long I’ve been keeping this a secret from you? Deceiving you… Denying you even the relief of knowledge…”

“I knew from the start that my soulmate would have to be the one to find me,” Chrom says. “I believed in them. I never worried that we wouldn’t meet. But when it came to you… You’ll think it silly now, but I thought that if you found your soulmate among the Shepherds, then it would prove you were right to be here with me.”

“I don’t think it’s silly. And…” Robin can’t help but smile at the warmth in Chrom’s eyes. “I always knew being with you was right… I want to deserve my place with you… Being soulmates doesn’t mean everything will work out for us; just look at Lucina’s future! But I don’t care about 'fate' and whether it wants to push us together or tear us apart… I choose to walk the same path as you. I...”

Robin’s voice falters.

“Hmm?”

“I’ve been so stupid, haven’t I?” Robin laughs incredulously. “All this time I’ve been trying to run away. I wanted to protect you. You’ve been telling me not to give up and I haven’t even been listening.”

“It wasn’t stupid,” Chrom says. “Frustrating for the rest of us, yes, but… I’m aware of where you’re coming from.”

“Yes… I swear my intentions were good. It’s only that I’ve feared for you from the moment we met.” Too naive. Too stubborn. Too preciously kind. A world without him would be immeasurably worse. Robin couldn’t help but be afraid. “But I see now… what I truly want… It’s to live with you, not to die for you.”

“Thank the gods,” Chrom says. Taking Robin’s hand, he clasps their fingers together. “Because that’s what I want, too.”

“Well, as your chief tactician…” Robin squeezes his soulmate’s hands. “I swear to put my mind to the task.”

==

“Father! You’re alive!”

The surprise in Lucina’s tone is entirely genuine, and Robin mentally adds one more tally to the count of ways he’s wronged her. But if Robin had told her, or anyone else for that matter, the risk that Validar would notice the deception would have been too high.

“Robin… spared me…” Chrom explains. “He weakened his magic… just before the strike…”

He is undoubtedly still in pain, but his wounds will heal. Robin hates that he had to cut it so close, but he can’t deny that his plan worked exactly as it was meant to, and Validar never suspected a thing.

“Ah, your hair!” Lucina exclaims. “Is that why you kept it black…?”

Robin grins. Now that Chrom (and, honestly, the entire army at this point) knows he’s Robin’s soulmate, there was little reason for Robin to keep his hair dyed except, as he’d claimed, for habit… and, as he told only Chrom, for this particular plan. There would have been an obvious problem had the blue not faded from his hair… But this way, no one was the wiser.

“Ready to end this, Robin?” Chrom asks, holding out his hand.

“Let’s do it,” Robin says, joining their hands together.

Their world is already different from Lucina’s. It’s time to make sure their future will be different, too.

* * *

Robin’s life is falling apart around him. The question of who he is has haunted him as far back as his memory goes. Now, he wishes he had never learned the truth. But the hierophant—his future self—has proven it too thoroughly.

He is Grima. The fell dragon. He’s not just good at strategy and combat; he’s godlike. Because that’s what he is. Plegia’s god. Foretold to end humanity..

He wants to deny it, claim it’s all a trick, but how can he? Destruction comes so naturally to him. Ravaged cities. An ocean on fire. The enemy slipping into lava. He can’t pretend he’s never felt a thrill. If it was necessity alone guiding him, why would it feel so good?

Chrom catches him by the sleeve of his coat. His murmured comfort hurts worse than condemnation.

“Let go of me,” Robin growls. “You… You can’t seriously think… Obviously, something has gone wrong! I can’t be your soulmate; I’m not even human! No matter how messed up this world is, there’s no way… There’s no way you’d ever be connected to a monster!”

“You’re not a monster—”

“You’re really going to say that after everything Lucina has told us?” Robin snaps. “I’m the fell dragon! How many are dead at my hands?”

“And how many are dead at MINE?” Chrom demands. “Far fewer because of your aid, no doubt!”

“That’s not—”

“The same thing? Why not?” Chrom, passionate as he is, has never blazed with quite this intensity before. “I’ve said it before; I’ll tell it to anyone who will hear! I’d have fallen to madness—or worse—long ago, had I no friends standing beside me…”

“It’s a very different thing, Chrom, to destroy the entire WORLD,” Robin says.

“If you insist on seeing it that way, then fine.” Chrom grits his teeth. “But you haven’t succeeded yet. And you won’t. You can’t change whatever your past holds, but the future—OUR future—has yet to be determined. You can still fight.”

“But… I’m…”

“Robin, from the very beginning, I have invited all manner of people into my Shepherds,” Chrom says. “It doesn’t matter what they’ve fought for in the past, so long as they want to fight for justice with us now. Do you not agree?”

Robin swallows thickly. He’s caught in check, his only defense being that some rules don’t apply to monsters that bring about apocalypses. But Chrom’s point stands; he’s never succeeded.

“Okay… You win…” Robin says. “But I ask you this: if you try to perform the Awakening, and it doesn’t work because your soulmate is the very evil you’re trying to defeat, won’t you… die? Is that a risk you can take?”

“Robin…” Chrom’s gaze softens, and he pulls the shorter man into an embrace. “There is a chance I could die, but… I have to take the risk. You understand, don’t you? If it’s me or the world, well…”

Robin closes his eyes.

“Your logic is sound…”

He doesn’t have the right to protest what is done in the name of ending the nightmare he started.

“Don’t fear for me, my love…” Robin’s breath hitches. Of all the things Chrom had to call him _now..._ of course it would be this sweet. “I trust in the strength of my conviction.”

* * *

“Baptize me in fire, that I may become your true son!”

There’s nothing so dramatic as an actual inferno, but Chrom’s pain is entirely real. Robin swears that if Chrom doesn’t survive this, he’ll… He’ll…

“Be welcome, Awakener,” Naga says, her spirit summoned from wherever it usually rests.

Robin sighs so heavily that Chrom turns to him worriedly. Even Naga’s gaze follows.

“… Fellblood,” she greets, calculatedly polite but not entirely cold.

She knows, then. There’s been no mistake. His soul hasn’t condemned its mate.

Lissa tries to surreptitiously pass him a vulnerary, but he refuses it. His head is spinning, but only with relief.

Some gods know how to be fair.

* * *

“Chrom… Will you do something for me?” Robin asks, holding up a vial of un-dyeing—or perhaps, he can only hope in this case, _undying_ —tincture. “I think… I think I’m tired of going unseen.”

“Robin…” Chrom takes the vial in what feels more like a caress. “Please tell me this means you’re going to stay with me, and not…”

“Of course I plan to stay with you.”

It isn’t a lie. Naga said he could come back, if his bonds were strong enough. She may have discounted the possibility, but that’s only because she’s never seen his strategies in action. Even if his chance of pulling off a critical hit should be 1% or less, when Chrom is with him, he always strikes true.

Still… If the worst should happen, as he must consider… He cannot leave this world without telling it, definitively, who he has given his heart to.

“You…” Chrom frowns. “PLAN to…?”

Chrom is too familiar with his manner of speaking. Robin sighs.

“You understand, don’t you?” he asks. “It’s me or the world. My mind is already made up…”

“But this is different! We have another solution! You’ve already done enough!” Chrom says. “This is too much…”

He reaches out, his arm trembling, as though Robin is already a ghost.

“This time, you’ll have to trust in the strength of MY conviction,” Robin says, clutching his soulmate tightly in his arms.

* * *

The sight of white and blue together infuriates the fell dragon from the future.

“Heh… Heh… You think it means something, don’t you? That you’re standing next to your soulmate?” Grima laughs, heh-ing and nyeh-ing so hard that Robin knows he must be truly outraged. “You still don’t get it? The reason fate drew you together is so that you could KILL him! That’s all!”

“You’ve got it wrong…” Chrom says. “There’s more to life than fighting and dying!”

“Not that you humans ever get to see it!” Grima shrieks. “Enough of this! Robin! Shall we end this farce? Join with me now, or wait until everything you care for is wrenched from you, the result will be the same!”

“If it’s all the same to you? I think I’ll take my chances with the Shepherds,” Robin says. “I’m not afraid of you, Grima… I have something you don’t… all of my friends and brothers-in-arms standing behind me!”

“We’ll see about THAT!” Grima threatens.

But try as Grima might, he cannot create a darkness sharp enough sever the bonds that Robin himself carefully tied.

* * *

Grima is down. There is just one thing left to do. And Robin must do it quickly, before Chrom can interfere.

But there is one more thing he wants to know...

“Before we do this, allow me to test a little theory of mine,” he tells his other self. “I believe I can plot the trajectory of your life. Do tell me if it’s wrong…”

Grima gazes at him with utter hatred. Robin knows the feeling.

“You took all your soulmate’s love, but you didn't deserve it,” Robin says. “He brought you happiness, and you brought him battle after battle, death after death. Then, one day, it was HIS death, by your hands but not by your will. It finally made sense, didn’t it? You, the fell dragon, didn’t belong among humans! You were only his soulmate because he was always doomed to die! Was it any wonder, then, that his love always felt so wrong? You were relieved to be that monster…”

Grima spits at him, but Robin continues.

“And then… I admit I was confused, at first, as to why you would follow Lucina away from your perfect nightmare, but after all this, I understand…” Robin laughs. “You couldn’t stand the mere SUGGESTION that your life could have ended in anything but misery, could you? Am I right, Robin?”

“You fool…” Grima sneers. “Do you think you get to have a better life? It’s FATE! If it wasn’t… then…”

“You still don’t get it?” Robin sneers back. “This didn’t happen because of fate! It happened because you’ve been a COWARD all your life! But I suppose I have to thank you… Without you, I’d never have realized...”

Dark magic comes easily to his fingertips. Though he has never called on it before, his power has always been waiting for him.

“You wouldn’t dare…” Grima says.

“I would and I will. I will do what YOU wouldn’t dare to,” Robin says. “I will undo the damage you and I have done to this world!”

“Robin! No!”

Chrom has finally defeated the falcon knights distracting him, but it’s already too late. Grima lets out a final scream as man and dragon both dissolve into nothingness.

Robin, too, prepares to go..

“Robin, you have to…” Chrom reaches out, but cannot find a solid place to touch. “You have to live! With me!”

“Chrom… All this time, you’ve always believed in me… Now I have to ask you to do it… one more time…” Robin says. “If my plan goes right… Or even if it goes wrong… I swear… We will meet again, in a better life…”

He refuses to close his eyes. There is something he needs to witness. Chrom has never used dye in his life. Therefore, if Robin is correct, then…

Yes, he’s entirely sure of it.

So he smiles as he fades away, for he can see that the white in his soulmate’s hair does not.

* * *

Robin is barely on his feet when he’s pulled into an embrace.

“You know, I almost didn’t recognize you without black hair,” Lissa says cheerfully from aside. “But I guess Chrom suddenly developed the eyes of a hawk, so there you have it!”

“Robin, I’m so glad you’re finally home,” Chrom says, not even taking notice of his sister’s words.

“Chrom…” It takes Robin all his strength not to cry. “I’m sorry for all the waiting I’ve put you through, my love.”

Chrom simply tightens his embrace. And at long last, Robin can lean into it without a single qualm holding him back.


End file.
